A collection of recipes from an ex-vegetarian, new additions at random points in time.

Friday, 24 July 2009

Animal Bread Rolls

Bored of making circular bread rolls I decided to try some more interestingly shaped bread rolls. Looking in one of the recipe books I had, I found a suggestion of hedgehogs. I then asked my house-mates for ideas for the other animals.Back row from left:Trilobite, Tortoise, NautilusMiddle row from left:Hedgehog, Rat, StarfishFront row from left:Snake, Squid

Ingredients:

550g strong white flour

2 tsp quick action yeast

2 tsp sugar

40ml olive oil

1 tsp salt

315ml water

Sultanas or currants and some seeds for the eyes

Method for Dough:

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees.

Place the flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil, salt and water in a bread machine and set it to the dough setting. If you don't have a bread maker then mix it well and kneed with the palm of your hands for 5 minutes. Then leave it to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes. After this 30 minutes is up kneed it again for 5 minutes and return to the warm place for another 30 minutes. (Or get a bread maker!)

Split into 8 equal sized pieces and make animals as suggested below.

Place on a greased baking tray and gently brush the top with some water using a damp bit of kitchen towel or a pastry brush.

Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is a nice golden colour.

Trilobite:

Roll the dough into a ball.

Use a sharp knife to draw lines across the back, but leave one end clear for the face.

Add two currents either side of the clear end for eyes.

Tortoise:

Remove two small (1/2 inch) lumps of dough and roll the remaining dough into a ball.

Flatten the large ball and use the tip of a knife to pattern the back of the tortoise.

Divide one of the small balls into five and stick four of these onto the corners of the tortoise using a dot of water. Roll the remaining one into a tail and place at the back.

Place the other large ball on the opposite side to the tail and add two currents to complete the head.

Nautilus:

Roll the dough into a 'sausage' using the palms of your hands.

Coil the 'sausage' around to get the spiral shell.

Use scissors to cut the end of the spiral into many small tentacles. Don't worry if they stick together or if they aren't all the same size.

Score around the base of the tentacles with a knife.

Hedgehog:

Roll the dough into a ball which is slightly pointy at one end.

Place a current as the nose and two more currents as the eyes at the pointy end.

Use scissors to lightly cut the back of the dough all over, but in the same direction. This is the hedgehogs spikes.

Rat:

Remove a 1/2 inch ball of dough and roll into a 'sausage' using the palms of your hands.

Make a ball out of the remaining dough and then shape it into a pointy egg shape to be the rat's body.

Add the tail at the non-pointy end (using a bit of water to stick it).

Place two currents as eyes and then another as the nose.

Starfish:

Roll the dough into a ball and press carefully into a disk shape.

Use scissors to place cuts which go about halfway to the center of the disk at 5 evenly spaced places along the edge of the disk.

Carefully separate these 5 arms and tease the dough out into a point on each one.

Place a current in the centre for the starfish's stomach.

Snake:

Use the palm of your hands to roll the dough into a 'sausage'.

Pattern the skin of the snake using the tip of a sharp knife.

Add a couple of seeds for eyes and place as an s-shape on the baking tray

Squid:

Split the dough into two equal parts.

With one of the parts roll it into an even sized 'sausage' about 1/2 cm wide. Cut this sausage into 6 or 7 pieces. These will be the tentacles.

Form the other half of the dough into a ball and add a couple of currents as eyes.

Use water to stick the tentacles onto the head one at a time. Try to get the tentacles to be slightly woven together so they're not all just lying next to each other.